Thomson could hold tonnes of mercury

Mercury sells for about $22,000 per tonne and if suggestions the Thomson could hold up to 1700 tonnes of the substance are right, then Hg Recoveries' quest to recover it will be worth it.

The company, based in Warragul, has applied to the Commonwealth for a permit to survey streams and mining areas in the Thomson catchment to identify and recovery mercury.

Hg Recoveries Managing Director, Andrew Helps told ABC Gippsland's Mornings Program that mercury was used extensively in mining operations in the catchment from 1856 to the late 1970's.

Mr Helps said there was a ready global market for mercury.

"It has to be recovered commercially because we don't have a long term containment facility where we can store it and say, despite the price we'll keep it in store and not circulate it," he said.

"Modern motor cars have mercury switches in them, in the ABS brake systems, quite often in the stability control systems, so there's a ready market for it although there's very little new mercury coming onto the market."

Mr Helps said mercury was a dangerous substance and governments across the world had committed to removing it from the environment.

"Australia has been part of a United Nations environmental process where removing mercury from the environment has become a priority and the final wording of the global agreement will probably be agreed in Japan late January," he said

As a flow-down of the United Nations program, Australia has, in the last 12 months, put out a new national waste policy implementation plan and part of that plan is to survey mercury in the environment and where possible, recover it."

Permits have been issues for a similar recovery project in the Upper Goulburn River catchment and survey work is expected to begin this week.

Mr Helps said the Thomson project was in its infancy and there was still a lot of consultation to be undertaken before permits were issued.